Decorative coated fabric



Patented Dec. 21, 1937 UNITED STATES DECORATIVE COATED FABRIC Harry J. Jenemann, Newburgh, N. Y., assignor to .E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Wilmington, Del., a corporation of Delaware No Drawing. Application July 3, 1935, Serial No. 29,686

1 Claim.

This invention relates to a process for producing decorative effects on coated flexible base materials and more particularly to a process for producing decorative effects on cellulose deriva- 5 tive composition coated flexible base materials and a product produced thereby.

The finish effect as set forth in this invention has been obtained in the leather upholstery in dustry by embossing the leather in a shallow grain, commonly known as cowhide grain and then applying by hand with a pad made of cotton sheeting a, low concentration pigmented lacquer on the top of the grain. This hand operation is commonly known as hand tipping or stippling and is done on a well padded table.

Such a hand operation is slow and laborious as well as a costly method of producing the desired effect. Due to the human element inthe hand tipping operation there is a wide variation in the finished effect which is objectionable. Any imperfection in the surface of the base material such as wrinkles, creases, scratches, etc., are accentuated by the hand stippling operation, therefore, the damage in connection with such a method is exceedingly high. The 'best speed possible for finishing with such a method is 10 yards per hour per man for 50' material.

This invention has as an object a method of producing an upholstery finish effect closely akin to hand finished genuine leather.

A further object is the reproduction of a hand stippled finish effect by means of a printing operation.

A still further object is a method of produc- 0 ing by machine the samefinish efiect of the hand stippling which will eliminate the objections of prior art. Other objects will appear hereinafter.

These objects are accomplished in the fol- 40 lowing invention by means of a printing operation employing a photo-etched print roll. A piece of leather finished in the previously described hand method is photographed; from this photograph a copper print cylinder is engraved 45 by one of the various methods of photo-etching well known in the art of printing. In this man ner the exact duplication of the hand Work is engraved into the copper cylinder. By subsequent printing operations this hand work is 50 again transferred to whatever material is being printed. A previously prepared base material which consists of sheet material coated with a cellulose derivative-plasticizer-pigment coating composition is printed with a photo-etched print 55 roller which has engraved on it the desired de- (Cl. til-67.9)

sign. The printed material is embossed in any desired grain preferably a shallow grain. After embossing the material is then treated with a finish coat. I

In order to illustrate the manner in which the invention may be carried out, the following examples are given:

A suitable sheet material is coated with a cellulose derivative-plasticizer-pigment coating composition applied by a plurality of coats in the 10 well known manner by means of a doctor knife, roller or spray coating which is well known in the art of coating sheet material.

A practical coating composition for a fabric sheet base such as a, sateen fabric having a weight 1 of 1.12 yds. per pound of 53 inch width is as follows:

Parts by weight Cellulose nitrate 13.2 Pigment 14.2 Castor oil a 27.2 Ethyl acetate 18.7 Ethyl alcohol 26.7

Approximately 11.5 dry ounces of the above composition are applied per yard of fabric.

After the coating composition is applied and subsequently dried to expel the volatile solvents the base material is then printed with the de-, sired pattern with a printing lacquer having the following formula and wherein the pigment is of a color different from the above pigment to produce a contrast:

Parts by weight Cellulose nitrate 9.06 Pigment- 20.51 Castor oil 10.25 Ethyl acetate -1; 10.22 Ethyl alcohol 15.34 Butyl acetate 34.62

The material is then run through a drying chamber to expel the volatile solvents. When dry the material is then embossed in a grain. preferably a shallow grain, commonly known as cowhide grain in the leather and artificial leather industry. After embossing the material is then treated with a doctor knife application of a clear lacquer finish coat having the following composition:

Parts by weight 0 Cellulose nitrate 8.37 Ethyl alcohol 65.38 Ethyl acetate 26.25

After the application of the above clear finish 55 While my application describes specifically a base material of artificial leather coated on a sateen fabric with a cellulose derivative coating such a procedure is equally applicable to any grade of artificial leather, coated papers, un-

coated papers, or any other non-fibrous base sheet material coated or uncoated or any printing surface in continuous sheet form. The print" design can be any design desired there being no limitation to the nature or characteristic of the pattern. While my'preferred grain is a shallow grain, commonly known as cowhide grain, any grain may be used, v

This invention will find wide use in the upholstery finishing industry for producing applique designs by machine which heretofore have been produced by hand.

A further advantage of the method as set forth is the elimination of wide variations in design with the hand tipping operation.

A still further advantage is the elimination of a streaky eiiect which is present in the hand operation resulting from an irregular surface such as wrinkles, creases, scratches, misweaves in the fabric base, etc., these surface defects in artificial leather are inherent and cannot be avoided.

A still further advantage is the fact that reproduction of any design is entirely mechanical and the excellency of the reproduction is in no way dependent upon the skill of the artist who finished the material heretofore by the hand tipping operation.

A still further advantage is that the finished eifect is in no way dependent upon the characteristics of the grain as is the case of the hand stippled material in which case only the top of the grain is stippled with the lacquer. In the present application the desired effect is obtained before embossing which permits the use of any shallow grain without any change in the desired pattern, v

It is apparent that many widely different embodiments of this invention may be made without departing from. the spirit and scope thereof and, therefore, it is not intended to be limited except as indicated in the appended claim.

I claim:

The process of preparing a leather substitute which comprises coating fabric with a plasticized nitrocellulose coating composition, removing volatile solvent, imprinting on the coated. surface a photographically reproduced leather design with an ink consisting of Parts by weight Cellulose nitrate 9.06 Pigment 20.51 Castor oil 10.25 Ethyl acetate 10.22 Ethyl alcohol 15.34 Butyl acetate 34.62

embossing the printed coating in a leather grain and finally coating the printed and embossed surface with aclear nitrocellulose lacquer and dryingthe same.

HARRY J. JENE. 

